


Invisible Planet

by esteefee



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Episode: s02e06 Trinity, First Time, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-18
Updated: 2013-04-18
Packaged: 2017-12-08 19:45:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/765283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esteefee/pseuds/esteefee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Project Arcturus, John goes to a new source for information, and discovers there's more to Radek Zelenka than he'd realized. Meanwhile, he and Rodney struggle to repair their friendship. Things get complicated real fast.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Invisible Planet

**Author's Note:**

> Beta and cover-art: the long-suffering Mischief. :)
> 
> Coda for Trinity, but I promise no lemon chicken in the mess.

  
[](http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/esteefee/14783436/121889/121889_original.png)  


* * *

John stared at the blinking cursor for so long it started to seem like it was smirking at him, until finally he began typing out of sheer self-defense. But he was only a couple of paragraphs into his after action report before he realized he didn't understand enough about what had happened in order to finish the damned thing.

He needed to finish it. He needed to be done with Project Arcturus.

Only going to McKay for help wasn't an option.

John stared at the screen again and tried to forget the mess in his head and just remember the sequence of events, but everything was tangled together—Rodney smugly telling him to keep the coffee coming, he had everything under control, while under his fingers disaster, disaster—so John pulled up the radio transmission recordings to try to jog his memory.

They really didn't help.

_"Well, you're wrong. I'm sorry, but there it is. And to bring this up now when I am just about to do this smacks of nothing but professional jealousy."_

The words made John freeze with his fingers on the keyboard, eyes staring blindly ahead. He felt cold twist in his guts and wondered suddenly who the hell that arrogant dick was, like Rodney was this other person entirely John didn't even recognize, like he'd had it wrong this whole time. So the whole mess was John's damned fault too, for being too stupid to understand what was happening. For trusting this stranger when the man had blinders on any fool should've been able to see.

And with their lives as forfeit, Rodney wasn't willing to delay a lousy test long enough to listen to what Zelenka was telling him, to even look at his numbers. 

John had thought Rodney respected Zelenka's intelligence.

_"Look. I don't know how else to say this, but none of you are capable of understanding this on the same level that I do, and Zelenka, that includes you."_

John scrubbed at his forehead and shut off the recording. Zelenka. Zelenka would have the answers.

Scuttlebutt had it McKay was spending more time in Lab 14 the last couple of days, so chances were John could catch Zelenka in Lab 2 on his own. Grabbing his laptop, John headed down there, still a little tense in case he ran into Rodney. They were managing okay, but Rodney wouldn't meet his eyes, and with the way John was feeling right now, he might fire a shot without even meaning to.

Lab 2 was quiet, with just the hum of computer fans and the dim glow of monitors. Zelenka was alone at his station, huddled over his desk with his chin propped on one fist, his eyes glazed and staring at a flat panel display. He muttered something in Czech and paged down a screen.

"Hey, Doctor Z." 

Zelenka jerked and turned his head, and then smiled a little tensely. "Colonel Sheppard. It is good to see you still with us." 

John ducked his head, fighting a flash of humiliating heat. "Yeah." His voice was rough. "We cut it pretty close." It felt like McKay's words were hanging in the air between them. 

"Listen, Doc. I hope to hell you don't think by backing Rodney's play it meant I think...I don't—it's not that I think any less of your abilities—"

" _Ne, ne. Nesmysl._ " Zelenka gave him a pained smile. "Dr. McKay has this way of, how do you say it? Like a train—" Zelenka made a rolling motion with his hands, startling John into a relieved laugh.

"Yeah, he's got that way about him, all right." John held Zelenka's eyes. "I mean it, though, Doc. I should've listened to you. I should've backed you up and asked him to stop the test. You were right, and I'm sorry."

Zelenka's eyes crinkled behind his glasses, and John was expecting a _"Yes, and don't you forget it,"_ but instead, Zelenka smiled and looked down. 

John hid a grin. "That's why I'm here, actually." Opening his laptop, John set it on Zelenka's desk, then pulled up a stool. "I need to understand better what happened for my AAR. Can you explain to me what exactly caused the overload?"

Zelenka blinked. "I'm surprised Dr. McKay did not forward you his report? It was very complete."

It was John's turn to stare blankly. "He didn't. Uh. Or maybe I just haven't checked my email yet." John opened his email program and then clenched his jaw, realizing he had, like a complete asshole, been avoiding looking in the folder where all his email from Rodney got filtered. Sure enough there was Rodney's report, and above it, an older email with the subject, "Avoiding me? <eom>" that Rodney must've sent a couple of days earlier when he was trying to find John to apologize. 

John switched back to his notepad and looked up at Zelenka. "Yup, looks like I've got it. But as long as I'm here, maybe you can explain it—give me the dumbed-down version?"

"Of course. Of course." Zelenka rubbed his hands together and actually looked a little pleased. "Well. How much do you know about exotic particles, Colonel?" 

John dug through his dusty memories of college physics. "Tachyons and stuff, right? They always travel faster than the speed of light."

"Yes," Zelenka's face lit in a smile as he said, "but tachyons are only one kind of exotic particle, and perhaps the most innocent, yes? In the chamber at Arcturus, by pulling energy from our own subspace, we were, at same time, spinning into creation pairs of exotic particles that were destroying each other in symmetry; and yet, of course, with the inherent unpredictability and entropic nature of—"

"They weren't always all destroyed," John said, getting it suddenly. "Sometimes they didn't pair up perfectly."

Zelenka nodded in approval. "No. And as more and more accrued, the chamber could not keep containment. I saw this, when I checked the results of the first experiment; the anomalous power of the particles escaping as hard radiation could not be accounted for." He pulled up a screen full of equations and John's brain flipped sideways seeing the tiny symbols and rows and rows of numbers. 

He'd always been good at math, had understood it without having to think about it, but this was so far beyond him it was like shoving a two year-old into a F-18 cockpit. 

"You figured out where the Ancients went wrong," John said slowly. "I mean, Rodney told me he had, but you're the one who really did it."

Zelenka's mouth dropped open, and his face started turning ruddy. 

John said teasingly, "You know what this means?"

"N-no?" Zelenka pulled off his glasses and began cleaning them vigorously. 

"It means you're king of the lab." John grinned at the puzzled frown. "You know: from that new TV show we saw on rec night? The squints and the FBI guy?" 

Zelenka smiled hesitantly. "Sounds interesting. But...squints?" 

"Yeah, you know...from squinting all the time at the evidence. The scientists...squints...have this competition thing going, and when one of them figures out something amazing, he or she gets to be king of the lab." 

"Ah." Zelenka popped his glasses back on. "But I have traveled many light years to free myself from all monarchies and non-representative rulership."

"What...?" John kicked back and spun around once in his stool. "You don't wanna be the king? Not even for a day?" He kept it light, but actually, he was curious. It was a funny thing about Zelenka—that he didn't want to be top dog all the time. It was a nice change.

Zelenka leaned back and appeared to give the question real attention. "It depends. What are my powers? My sphere of influence?" 

"Hmmm." John rubbed his chin. "Okay, well, obviously, there'd be no...yelling." John lowered his voice. "No one yells at the king, right?"

"Rodney has not been so much with the yelling these past few days," Zelenka said quietly.

"Well, there you go," John said quickly. "And there'd be cake. Lots of cake, and you would, of course, have your royal button-pusher." John indicated himself, acknowledging the fact Rodney had pretty much been monopolizing John's ATA gene for all the more difficult-to-manipulate Ancient equipment or when he wanted John to do the high-end fiddling while he did the monitoring. 

"That would be acceptable," Zelenka said. "You may address me as Lord Radek." He raised one hand, and John tilted his head.

"Your highness, Lord Radek."

"Or maybe just Radek, if you please. I prefer to keep close to the little people. It prevents bad feelings." Zelenka gave him a mischievous grin that crinkled his eyes and nose, making John grin back. 

"You got it, Radek." It was kind of a kingly name, actually. "So, your first order?"

"Well...this cake you speak of?"

John laughed and led the way to the mess.

:::

After lunch, John had to go back to writing his AAR, but he promised his kingship he'd meet him afterward for gadget duty down on L7 East where there was an Ancient lab that had been cleared by the marines but never been fully investigated. Rodney had taken a pass over it and deemed it below his interest, but Radek was convinced there was more to it than a simple systems monitoring station.

The AAR went quickly now that John understood where he'd gone wrong—specifically, he should have listened to Radek and postponed the test. He'd known at the time that Rodney hadn't really been listening. Hadn't even heard what Zelenka was saying at all, or tried to apply it to his calculations, which would have been the prudent thing to do, and proper procedure. After all, what would it have hurt to postpone the test long enough to see if their equations matched up or not? But Rodney had probably been deep down worried Elizabeth wouldn't let him go through with the test if they'd examined his work more closely.

He'd have been right.

So, John bore as much blame as Rodney, because even though John didn't get the math, he should have seen that Rodney wasn't acting like a real scientist. That was John's job—to notice when people were acting hinky. John could usually pick up on it, only this time he'd been so badly out of his league on the science; also, Rodney had used their personal connection, their friendship, as a card in the game.

Okay, that burned. Maybe John wasn't as over it as he thought, because now he was going to have to look out for that as well. He hadn't realized Rodney could do that— _would_ do that. The whole thing with Collins and the Manhattan project—was that just a ploy? No, John had to believe that really was Rodney's motive in moving forward. 

But that wasn't reason enough to ignore the science, the math. That didn't explain the smirky little jokes Rodney was making before the test, or the snap answer he'd made when John asked him if he was sure, if he was really sure. 

It didn't explain the way Rodney had apologized afterward for being wrong, as if that were the problem, and hoped to win back John's confidence in his abilities, as if that were what had really chapped John's hide.

John always knew Rodney was brilliant, and everyone made mistakes, goddamn it. John just never knew Rodney could turn friendship on and off like a light switch. Even though he knew Rodney would have his back when his life was on the line, now John wasn't so sure he could trust Rodney if a Nobel was.

Sighing, John bent his head over the damned report.

:::

John found Radek in the Ancient lab as promised, a laptop already hooked up to the console, which was dark. Radek lifted his head and his blue eyes blinked wide behind his glasses.

"Oh! Colonel. I'm very glad you're here."

"Lord Radek," John said with a smile. "I'm at your service."

He could swear Radek blushed a little, which was funny and sort of appealing, actually. A nice change from the usual, _Snap, snap, come along, Colonel, don't waste precious time._

Radek was funny, too, in a sly, deadpan way, once they got started.

"God, this is so frustrating," John said at one point when his third attempt to bring up the right diagnostic screen just led to the same stupid input error in Ancient, **Vestri penitus est in erroris.** "We need a freaking translation engine."

"I have been working on one for database." Radek smiled a little. "But it is in Czech."

"So? We'll just plug in a Czech to English translator on top of that."

"Yes, this will work. And then the database will tell us to create ZPMs by squeezing mango juice from porcupine."

John snorted involuntarily and looked back down at the screen, concentrating as he touched the keys. "I think it's rejecting the request...like maybe this isn't about diagnostics at all. So the screen I'm calling up is wrong. What if I just let it show me what it wants to show me, instead?" John turned back toward Radek. "Is that okay?"

Radek shrugged. "It is your gene."

"Heck: you're the king—"

"Is this..." Radek frowned. "…how you work with Rodney?"

John was startled into laughing. "You kidding? I'm his lab monkey. It's all, 'Touch this, gene boy,' and, 'No, no, did I _tell_ you to think for yourself? In your oh-so-limited capacity, that is.'" John was startled to hear an edge of bitterness in his voice, and he closed his mouth with a snap. He knew Rodney didn't really think he was stupid, but then, Rodney didn't think anyone was as smart as he was, and had very little patience to spare when he was working. Which was most of the time, really.

Radek's eyes had sharpened to an expression that made John look away, back down to the panel and the flashing screen, and with a quick breath, John put his hands down on the weird Ancient triangular keys and, this time, just let the console nudge at him, instead of doing the reverse.

He heard a squeaking noise next to him and then the sudden tap of keys as Radek went at his keyboard, but John couldn't spare the attention because suddenly screens were flashing by, choices coming up and then sliding to the side in an array of menu options, and in one voice they both shouted, "There!"

**Vegrandis Traba Lenimentus Exertus ******

John didn't know much Ancient, but he damn well knew the words for the 'ship' and 'project'. He tapped the menu option, and all of a sudden, diagrams started filling all three of the big monitors overhead.

"Motherlode," John whispered, and turned to share a grin with Radek, who was positively bouncing with happiness.

"Plans to enhance the puddlejumpers," Radek said. "I'm sure of it. Oh, imagine!" He bent over his laptop and started typing furiously. "We must download all this data immediately. Please, Colonel—"

"Command me," John said, trying his damnedest not to burst out laughing in insane glee.

"By all means." Radek didn't even look up, but waved his hand in fiddly, sweeping gesture. "I so command you to cycle through all the screens at your disposal, my vassal."

"Hell yes, sir." 

It took nearly an hour to get all of it, and even then John went back and obsessively cycled through the menus again to make sure he hadn't missed anything for that tree of options. The others weren't as recognizable, and he mentioned to Radek that he'd like to get one of the linguists down there with them next time, along with Radek's translation program, to see what else they were missing.

In the meantime, though, he knew Radek would be full up with just this one discovery. Hell, it would probably take up most of Radek's time over the next month or so, and John found himself feeling disappointed about that. Rodney had pretty much been avoiding him lately, and as much as John had work of his own, and loved working out with Ronon and Teyla and the marines, he'd miss this other aspect of his duties.

"Nevěřím tomu!"

"Huh?"

"Colonel, to je—" Radek tugged at his pant leg, and John joined him on the floor. The scientist was flush-faced with the glow of discovery—not a bad look on him at all, John noticed absently. It really brought out the deep blue of his eyes, and that was a road John wasn't traveling down, no-how, so he told himself to cut it out and listen up.

"Calm down and remember—English, Doc."

"Oh, yes. But this is perfect—one of the jumpers—one I'm assuming we haven't yet used, since it is in the upper bay and not easily accessible—has already been outfitted with these improvements. The unit should already be installed, although in what state I'm uncertain."

"Cool! This unit—do you know what it does, exactly?"

Radek gave a sly smile. "That, I am not yet prepared to tell you. You must wait for my report."

"Aw, c'mon, Doc—"

"Ne, no, Colonel. Patience, my friend."

John sighed. "Fine. But if I'm your friend, you think you could try calling me John?"

Radek blinked, and then a pleased smile took over his face. "Yes, John. But only if you call me Radek. Although I admit I grow fond of your nickname of me."

 _Nickname? Oh._ "You mean 'Doctor Z.'"

"Yes, that. You make me sound an evil arch villain. Like something from those comical books you are so fond of."

"Comics, Doc." John tilted his head and stared at Radek for a long moment.

"What?" Radek frowned.

"Just trying to decide on your super villain power. Like maybe you have super-chilled breath that turns people to ice—"

"I think you confuse me with McKay."

"Heh. Or maybe you have a flock of evil super pigeons to do all your dirty deeds—"

"Pigeons are not evil!"

"Ah, but so says the criminal mastermind."

"From king to supervillain in but a day. Sad, sad is my life." But Radek was smiling as he disconnected the cords from the console and packed up his laptop, and John was smiling too. He stood up and offered a hand, then hauled Radek to his feet.

Maybe Radek would let him hang out and help with the puddlejumper project. After all, every supervillain needed at least one untrusty minion. 

:::

Dinner was weird. Teyla and Ronon were already there, but giving off a cold vibe toward each other that didn't sit well. John made a mental note to ask Teyla about it later. Meanwhile, Teyla compensated by being way too nice to John, offering him her pie, which was lemon meringue. Normally he wouldn't accept, knowing the grief Rodney would give him for accepting a dessert he couldn't steal and that would pain him to watch John eat. Like a double insult, really, except Rodney wasn't there, so John took it with thanks, which made Ronon frown fiercely, and—no way to win, really.

Eventually they both got up and left, Ronon with a grunt and Teyla with a hand to his shoulder. Rodney bowled in soon afterward, and it seemed like the news of the project was enough to overcome his reticence in approaching John, because he came right over to treat him to the DEFCON-2 of whipped dog looks.

"Zelenka showed me the data you helped him retrieve from the Ancient console," Rodney said, a hurt emphasis on 'you.'

"Look, Rodney, we had no idea anything was in there," John found himself saying defensively.

Rodney humphed. "What were you doing helping him, anyway? Don't you have better things to do? Marines to pummel?" 

And, God, wasn't that just like McKay? Two days after nearly blowing them to smithereens and he was suddenly the injured party. And John was falling for it. It just killed him. 

He raised one eyebrow and took a careful bite of his lemon meringue pie, watching Rodney's eyes widen with horror.

"Oh. That's just uncalled for."

John couldn't help grinning a little, and an uncertain smile lifted the slant of Rodney's mouth as well. 

"Look, if this is some kind of punishment for-for the—" Rodney waved vaguely and, for all John knew, directly toward the demolished solar system. "—well, I did apologize, after all," Rodney said, starting to sound a little peeved, but John interrupted him.

"Yeah, you did. But for what?" 

"What? What do you—?"

"I mean, 'my faith in your abilities?'" John mimicked, barely resisting making quote marks. "Is that what you're worried about? Because that was never a problem." Suddenly John's dessert tasted like chalk, and he tossed down his fork. "Listen, I gotta go. Radek says he needs my help testing the special puddlejumper systems." 

" _Radek_?" Rodney looked stupefied.

"Yeah." Radek had said John could join him if he wanted, please, thank you, looking bashful about it, and John only half-successfully suppressed his total enthusiasm, saying, "Heck, yeah," and bumping Radek on the arm with his fist. The guy had looked startled, then pleased, big dimples creasing his cheeks, and they'd agreed to meet in the puddlejumper bay at eighteen hundred hours.

Which was in five. John stood and picked up his tray. Rodney still looked dumbfounded. 

"So—Radek, now?"

"Yeah. Doc Z. In about five."

"No, _Radek,_ Colonel."

Feeling like he was playing the Atlantis version of "Who's On First?" John shook his head and turned. "Gonna be late. I'll catch you later, McKay."

As weird as the conversation was, it was definitely an improvement over the way things had been for the first couple of days when they'd barely talked at all. So, that was something. And for once, John had managed to say a little bit about why he was pissed without tripping over his tongue. Maybe Rodney would think about it. 

In the meantime, John would get to play in the puddlejumper. With Radek.

It was in the very top corner of the bay, which explained why it was one of the ones they hadn't taken out yet and hadn't noticed had been modified. Not that the unit itself was that noticeable—just a shiny silver lump bulging out below the crystal panel on the starboard side. 

Radek already had one of those Ancient screwdriver things out and was about to begin unfastening the panel when John arrived at the top of the stairs.

"Hey! No fair starting without me," John said. They'd only taken a look at the thing earlier without touching it, so he could understand Radek's eagerness. 

Radek looked guilty but continued unscrewing the bolt. "You are late," he said primly. "Terrible behavior for lackey."

"Sorry, your lordiness." John stepped around Radek and the two laptops cluttering the way to the cockpit and sat sideways in the pilot's chair. "So, are you going to tell me what the enhancements are?" 

"I thought perhaps Rodney would let the cat out of the bag." Radek had pushed up the sleeves of his blue science uniform, and his tanned arms revealed strong muscles working as he twisted the screwdriver. John pulled his eyes away and brought up a HUD of the internal diagnostics. 

"No. He had other stuff he wanted to talk about. Mainly, how pissed he is we found this baby first." John stroked the console, making the HUD flare a little brighter. When he turned his head, he found Radek smiling at him, a slightly cynical smile. "What?"

"You are still angry with him."

"What? Nah. I'm just—"

"Prosím. You are. But it was my professionalism he cast aspersions to? On?"

"On."

"Yes."

"Yeah, I know." John scrubbed a thumb over his eyebrow. "Did he apologize? I mean, I'm sure he did, but did he apologize for being an insulting jerk to you in front of Dr. Weir and everyone else? Or did he just say he was wrong about his stupid equations?" John waved his hand. "Never mind. You don't have to answer that. It's none of my business."

He heard Radek sigh and put down the screwdriver then come over and sit across from him in the co-pilot's seat. John looked up to find him cleaning his glasses again. From what John could tell, it was something Radek did when he was about to say something difficult or trying to find the best way to say things in English. 

Radek gave him a wry smile. "No, perhaps he did not say what I wanted or needed to hear. But for Rodney, saying he was wrong and I was right—to him, this is a tremendous blow. A great—the word is—concession. For him, this is an apology."

"In Rodney's world."

"Yes. It is Rodney's world." Radek shrugged. "We only live in it."

"But you're friends, and friends, they don't-they don't fucking accuse you of professional misconduct—"

Radek's eyes widened, and John was pissed on his behalf again. Suddenly it seemed really important that someone say it, even if it was only John, and his scientific or professional opinion didn't mean shit because he was military and not in Radek's circle. 

" _I_ know you'd never violate your ethics like that. You'd never do anything like he said, Radek. Not to a complete stranger, let alone a co-worker or a friend. And I'm not just talking in a professional capacity. Hell, you wouldn't fudge the numbers on restaurant tip."

Radek's face flashed into a grateful grin, his dimples breaking into creases and, oh, John was in real trouble, because Radek was a handsome guy when he smiled like that. And that wasn't good, because John could see them spending a lot of time alone together on this project, and Radek was quiet, and intelligent, and deadpan funny, and seemed really discreet, and now John was arguing himself into he didn't know what, because for all he knew Radek was straight as a carpenter's plumb.

"Thank you, my friend," Radek said warmly. It took John a second to catch up, and then he nodded and looked away, hoping Radek would attribute his staring to the moment of friendship. It was nice to have a new friend.

"No problem," John said, his voice a little scratchy. "So, do I get to know what these enhancements are all about?"

"Ah! Well. As long as you have the display up, I will show you. And you will be delighted and astounded. Yes, I think you will be astounded. Please, if you would, bring up the pod thruster power display...yes. See, here?" Radek pointed to the display, his finger wavering in and out of the pixels around the power conduits, which were—that couldn't be right—

"Holy Moses."

"And that is not all! Now, if you would, bring up the shield display."

John did and watched and listened while Radek pointed and pontificated and pushed his glasses up his nose, while essentially telling John that the puddlejumper he was sitting in, if the modifications were actually completed as outlined in the specs, could be used as—

"It's a battering ram. I mean, like a trebuchet combined with a battering ram. With the improved inertial dampeners, and the reinforced shielding, and the turbo-mode on the pods, we can essentially punch a fucking hole through a hive ship. We'd be like a reusable mega-drone."

"Essentially. Yes." Radek grinned at him.

"Cool!"

"I thought perhaps you might say this exact thing," Radek said dryly.

"It would be a ride like no other." John frowns. "Not that Dr. Weir would ever let me do it. But still, the enhancements would sure come in handy, speed- and defense-wise. And if we ever needed it...it's good to have options. For the getaway value alone, if not for blowing shit up and then blasting through the wreckage."

Radek looked more serious now. "Always good. So," he patted John's knee, "we must get to work."

He wasn't kidding, either. John had never had the opportunity to work so closely with Radek before, but the guy had the focus of a sniper. He didn't snap out orders; instead, relayed them in a quiet, almost absent-minded tone that still conveyed intensity. John enjoyed testing himself on how fast he could get the job done, until it became kind of a game to see if he could anticipate the next request—one he got better at once he managed to pry the spare laptop away and could duplicate the schematics Radek was looking at. Their rhythm improved until they were going faster and faster with each component tested, so perfectly in sync that John was startled when he finally screwed up. Radek looked surprised, too, raising his head to stare at John with a foggy expression.

"Sorry about that," John said. "I expected you to try the shield's amplification trigger relays next. I'll go back to the interstitial array—"

"Ne. This is a good breaking point." Radek sighed and rolled his head on his neck before saving their latest results again. He'd been almost fanatical about saving every minute. "So far, we have completed, I see—" He jerked his head up, his hair flying around almost comically. "Úžasné! Amazing." He suddenly looked intrigued. "These schematics are not simple, John. Very complex systems. This is not first time I find you surprise me with your understanding."

"Yeah, well."

"But you enjoy this game of yours. Keeping the scientists surprised." The wry smile appeared again, more than a little affectionate, making John feel jittery.

"So, I'm getting tired. How about you?"

"Sleep would be good. We continue tomorrow?"

"Sure thing." John hesitated. "I have to report in tomorrow morning with Elizabeth, but maybe I'll see you at breakfast before we start working?"

That got him an odd look. "Yes. All right."

John stepped carefully over the tangle of laptops and wires, then gave a little wave goodbye as he left, feeling awkward, as if he'd screwed something up, or left something unfinished.

Or left something behind.

:::

John loved his morning meetings with Elizabeth. She was beautiful and sexy and flirted with him, but nothing was ever going to happen there, her being his boss and all, so he could slouch back with his hips out and flirt back, and she would just arch one eyebrow at him like his ex-girlfriend Sheila after they broke up but when he was still trying to get in her pants. It felt great knowing at least someone wanted him, even if that bird wasn't going to fly. Plus, Elizabeth had a great sense of humor, and a stash of the better coffee, and was nice about sharing both. 

But today, Colonel Caldwell had decided to join them. He was obviously here for a little payback, and there was no denying John owed him, and personally. John could tell Caldwell wanted to watch him squirm about it.

"I just think," Caldwell was saying, "after having such a stressful time lately, my staff could use a little R and R. And I think you folks are in a good position to provide it. I hear the Gamma site is an ideal location: good weather this time of year, no Wraith in the quadrant at present, and it's obviously well-stocked thanks to our recent visit."

Elizabeth put her elbows on the table and looked at Caldwell over her clasped hands. "And, of course, you want Colonel Sheppard to provide the security detail."

"Well," Caldwell leaned back in his chair, "I want my people to take full advantage of their time relaxing." 

"It would be our honor." John wasn't even gritting his teeth as he said it. "I mean it, Colonel. We owe you guys, big time."

Caldwell looked surprised; not that his face changed much, but his fingers stopped their lazy tapping on the tabletop.

John spread his hands. "For keeping McKay in coffee alone..." 

Elizabeth let out a delicate snort of laughter.

"What?" John said innocently, "I'm not kidding! We owe them more than a measly vacation at the Gamma site. We'll set up a field kitchen and throw them a couple of parties on the turnovers."

"I think that's a marvelous idea," Elizabeth said. "I'll speak to Cooky." Caldwell still looked bemused but was almost smiling now. They discussed when the first furlough shifts would start, and John radioed Lorne to set up the security detail before clicking off.

"If that's all, I'd like to be dismissed. I've got plans after breakfast to work on the puddlejumper project."

"How is that going?" Elizabeth asked at the same time Caldwell said, "What's that?"

"Zelenka and I dug up some specs on enhancements to the puddlejumpers. Pretty cool. Anyway, one of the jumpers was already retrofitted, and we're testing to see if all the components are complete."

"What kind of enhancements? Any new weapons capabilities?" 

"Not really. It's more about shielding and speed," John said, hoping Radek hadn't gone into the implications with anyone. He really didn't want Caldwell butt-sniffing around this project just yet.

"Well, keep me posted on your progress," Caldwell said, dismissing him.

John saluted, nodded at Elizabeth, and got the hell out.

:::

It was just his luck that Rodney, who never got up at the crack of anything but ten unless there was a staff meeting, was already seated in the mess with his back to the room when John arrived. There was no sign of Radek, either, which meant John had no choice but to get his tray and go sit across from Rodney or he'd screw up what was just getting fixed between them.

Rodney looked up and waved a muffin at him as he sat down. There were two cups of coffee sitting on Rodney's tray, one shaped like a laboratory beaker but with a sturdy handle, and the other a plain mess mug. The handles were turned opposite each other as if standing ready for Rodney to use either hand to drink.

John shook his head and forked his reconstituted eggs onto his toast, slapped a piece of spam and another slice of toast on top, and then started eating it like a sandwich. He caught Rodney's eye-roll. 

"What? It's like an Egg McMuffin."

"It's an 'Egg Disgusting.'"

John took a sip of his coffee and pointed with a free finger. "You have never been in the military."

"Could you say something a little more obvious?"

"You have never, seriously, gone hungry."

"That is not more obvious. However, it's not untrue."

John nodded, then felt a little bad. "Sorry. Cheap shot." 

Rodney waved it away, so John was feeling pretty good about them. Right then Radek showed up. John gestured for him to come over, and felt a totally weird moment of _déjà vu_ that it took him a full five seconds to recognize as being from junior high when a friend from his D &D club was sitting at his lunch table and a girl he was interested in came walking by, and—whoa—there was a brain-twisting moment right there. 

Radek hesitated, and for one brief second, John was afraid he wouldn't join them—their friendship was a little too new, and his routine with Rodney too well-established—but John smiled and tilted his head and there he came, setting his tray next to Rodney's across from John's.

"Hey, Radek," John said, and Rodney looked to the side, a frown already starting up.

"Zelenka," he said shortly. 

Christ, John really didn't want to see this turn out the way it did with Sanford Goldberg and Sara Overmann. John never did get his favorite set of dice back, and for what? Sara ended up dumping him for a J.V. football player a couple of weeks later. 

"Good morning, Rodney," Radek said. "Colonel."

John suppressed a wince at the return of his rank. "Hey, Radek. How goes it?" 

"It goes." Radek gave Rodney a quick glance and then said, "I am looking forward to completing the inspection. Only thirty-eight percent of systems remain. We'll continue after breakfast?" 

Rodney was frowning.

"Sure thing—sounds great," John said encouragingly, but Radek was already looking down at his breakfast. 

"I had no idea you two were already testing systems." 

"Yes. Jumper Eighteen was already equipped with upgrade, so we are testing individual circuits now. I sent you the report last night, Rodney."

"I didn't see it." Rodney sounded upset. "Of course, I'll have to insist on inspecting everything myself before you do any sort of test flight."

"Zatraceně," Radek said softly, putting down his fork. "It will take you forever. And this part is child's play. You've already approved the plans. The simulations—"

"The simulations," Rodney's voice was rising, "were _fine_. I'm talking about the physical circuits. There's no way I'm letting Sheppard—"

John raised his hand. "Whoa, hey." He looked at Radek, who was wiping his glasses furiously. 

"I have been working with puddlejumpers for over a year now. I know their systems inside and out."

Carefully, John said, "Radek's being really meticulous about this."

Rodney shot him a look full of hurt. "Oh, I see. I get it, now."

"Rodney—"

But Rodney pushed up from the table and grabbed his tray, taking the food off it and leaving the tray by the door before hustling away. 

"Crap."

Radek sighed. "This did not go well."

"No kidding. I didn't realize what the hell was happening until the end there."

"Me neither."

"We're a couple of idiots."

Radek smiled ruefully at him, and John grinned back. "So you'll talk to him, right?"

"Very funny, Colonel. You are a trickster."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm on it."

"Good luck. We salute those who are about to die." Radek raised his coffee cup. 

"I'll see you at the jumper in...oh, I don't know. Whenever I'm done being flamed. Have a fire extinguisher handy."

Radek's quiet laughter followed him out.

:::

John found Rodney in Lab 14, apparently trying to hammer his fingers through his keyboard.

"Hey," John said. He'd swung by the coffee pot on his way out of the mess and had a fresh cup as an offering. "Brought you coffee."

Rodney didn't even acknowledge him when John set it beside his mouse pad.

"Look, I know you think there was something going on there, some point we were making or something, but there really wasn't."

A growling sound emanated from the vicinity of Rodney's throat.

"Seriously, Rodney. We're checking the systems, one by one. You don't have to worry. And...I don't know what you were thinking exactly, but we weren't trying to piss you off. We just want to go fly the thing."

"As Chief Science Officer, I can tell you, you _won't_ be flying that thing until it's passed my rigorous standards. Which means I'll be testing the new components myself, thank you very much."

"Nice. You're pulling rank." John could feel his throat getting tight.

"Not to mention the standard jumper circuits."

"Oh. Now Radek can't be trusted with standard maintenance?"

"This is a ten thousand year-old ship, or need I remind you, Colonel?"

"Okay, that's it. You need a time-out." 

"I beg your pardon?" Finally, Rodney raised his head to look at him. His eyes were bloodshot, like he hadn't slept in days. Had he looked that bad at breakfast? John realized he hadn't been looking at Rodney, he'd been checking out Radek mostly, in between trying to keep his eyes on his tray.

"A time-out. Look, you obviously haven't slept, and you're being paranoid about this—"

"Oh, _am_ I—"

"—because I'm not the one who plays head games. That's your fucking specialty."

As soon as John said it, he regretted it, but it was way too late. Rodney's mouth turned into one tight, slanted line and he snapped his laptop closed with an evil-sounding thunk. 

"As soon as my diagnostics are finished, you can take it for a test flight, Colonel. Solo. And don't bother meeting me for our scheduled ATA test later. I'll get Major Lorne to help me."

John's stomach sank as he watched Rodney stomp away.

:::

"This by-pass filter does not resemble the circuit diagram. It has been modified, see? Whether the designer tries to improve it after implementation or the engineer constructed it wrong?" Radek made a seesaw motion with his hand. "Either way, I must run a simulation to see the outcome with a hardware filter."

"Okay. So, how far do you think it puts us back if we have to re-engineer it?"

"This part is not difficult. We use a light pen to redescribe, no, _rediagram_ the board. But pulling the circuit is not so easy. It is deep."

John nodded. "I can help if we need to do it. Only, not today. I can't get behind on paperwork, and I have parties to plan for Caldwell." John made a face, hoping to get a laugh.

Radek did let out a dry-sounding little chuckle, making John grin. "He is a most unpleasant man. Reminds me of a drill sergeant of my youth."

"You were in the army?"

Nodding unhappily, Radek said, "Two years compulsory military service. Horrible." He gave an exaggerated shiver. "Abolished finally in the Czech Republic, but not in time for me."

"That's good to know, though, if we ever need you for a gate team."

Radek gave him a narrow look. "You have noticed I did not volunteer for such?"

John grinned wickedly. 

"No, no, no." Radek frowned, looking serious. "I see the things you—sometimes I wish I had your courage, John. I admire you for it, for the pain you take on to protect us. The risks."

"Radek—"

Radek shook his head. "And I do wish sometimes I could...but this is why you have Rodney, unpleasant bear though he is lately." 

John looked away, turning to the HUD. 

"You did not straighten things out?"

"He wasn't...reasonable. He's being totally paranoid about the whole thing. He thinks we have ulterior motives."

"And don't we?"

John jerked his head around so fast a bolt of pain ran up his neck. "Ow. What? What're you—"

Radek bit his lip then took off his glasses.

"No, don't take off the glasses." John slid out of the pilot's seat to prop himself up on the floor facing Radek. "I know what it means when you take off the glasses."

"You," Radek said, blinking at him, "are still angry." God, Radek's eyes were a deep blue. A guy could get totally lost.

"Yeah, no." John pointed. "I'm _newly_ angry, because things were going okay, but now he's being a dickweed. And the only ulterior motive I have's got nothing to do with Rodney, okay?" 

Shit. What the hell was he doing?

Radek blinked a couple more times and then put his glasses back on.

"What do you mean? What is your motive?" Radek's voice was low.

John scratched the back of his neck. "This is fun, okay? I'm enjoying myself. You like working with me, right? Well, you don't think I'm an idiot, anyway. And we're doing good stuff." John smiled encouragingly. He thought that sounded pretty plausible, except the smile Radek gave him was so bright that John's faltered.

Something flickered behind Radek's eyes, but he said, "I do. We are."

"Good."

"Good."

"Fine, then."

"Excellent." Radek cleared his throat. "Let us continue. Only eighteen components to go, and if by-pass filter circuit is the only issue, we will count ourselves lucky."

:::

They were lucky, with that one filter being a problem, and Radek disappeared to mutter and run simulations and crunch numbers. 

John was lucky because he'd squeaked by with his 'having fun' confession, but the narrow miss lingered like an ache. A missed opportunity.

He didn't run into Rodney at team lunch. Ronon and Teyla were there, still acting a little stiff around each other, and since John was at loose ends, he asked Ronon for a sparring session.

Big mistake.

"Oof," John groaned the third time he hit the mat in under a minute. "Tell me the truth," he said, staring up at the gymnasium ceiling, which he was pretty sure he knew better than any other ceiling in Atlantis, "you just made that up. 'No-Arm Katii'? How in the heck is that supposed to be useful in the field?"

Ronon nudged him with a boot. "What if you injure both arms and still need to defend yourself? You should still be able to take down your opponent." 

"Yeah, but he'll just roll over and shoot me. And he'll be really pissed, too, because his ass will hurt." John wasn't sure, but it sounded like Ronon was laughing at him. Either that or his allergies were getting bad again.

"Gonna try again?"

John scrambled to his feet. "Can we try something easier? Hey, why don't we put on some blindfolds and tie our feet together?"

"Yeah, okay."

John rolled his eyes. 

"Just the blindfolds, then. It translates as 'Night Fallen'." Ronon went over to his bag. 

John trailed along and grabbed his towel to rub it over the back of his neck. "So, is something up with you and Teyla?"

Ronon ducked a look over his shoulder and then shrugged.

"I'm only asking because things seem a little off. You need me to talk to her? Not that I can say I'll be any good."

That earned him a snorting sound.

"Hey. I could at least win you some points for effort."

"I screwed up," Ronon said, his voice conveniently muffled by his own towel. 

"What'd you do?"

Ronon shrugged again and turned to sprawl down on the bench next to his bag. Then he bowed his head and muttered, "I asked her to do something for me—a favor. And she did it. But I didn't give her the whole story, and now she doesn't trust me."

"Shit." John wanted to ask more questions, but it was kind of obvious it had torn Ronon up some just to say that much. But— "It was important, right? I mean, I'm not asking what—"

"It was, yeah. Really important."

"So, there you go. Give it time, buddy. She knows you—you're a...you're a good guy." John felt himself flushing; Ronon sure the hell didn't need John telling him this shit. 

But Ronon shot him an oddly grateful look. "C'mon," he said, and then grinned suddenly. "We can skip the blindfolds."

John pointed at him. "Now you're talkin'."

:::

Thing was, Rodney was a good guy, too. John knew it, even if it didn't feel like it right now. Even if there were some things Rodney did and said sometimes that made John wonder a little. At heart, Rodney had to be a good guy, because John couldn't be that wrong. 

This thing with the jumper, though, was making it more complicated, rather than less. 

Actually, if it were just the jumper, John could give it up easy. But it wasn't just the jumper. That was the real killer.

Then again, there was no point in causing a big whole mess of things if Radek didn't see him like that. John could be making things all complicated for nothing. If he backed off now, Rodney would be happier.

But John's chest twisted at the thought—and he was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the fact Rodney was being a dickwad about the whole thing.

Well, almost nothing to do with it.

:::

The morning dragged on slowly with all the paperwork John had been putting off, so he was late getting to the mess for lunch. Fortunately, it looked like Rodney had had a slow morning as well.

"That almost looks like chicken pot pie," John said, peering down at Rodney's tray. "Are those really peas?"

"Reconstituted frozen." Rodney sounded almost friendly.

"I am definitely going to have to start showing up on time for lunch." John dropped his tray on the table and started unwrapping his sad-looking cold sandwich. "How're things going?" 

This was usually where Rodney started detailing the difficult woefulness that was his life, dealing with the stupidity that constituted ninety-eight percent of the staff decisions he had to make on any given day—"monkeys with calculators would be less stress!" he'd told John once—but today, he just gave John a keen look and said shortly, "If you're trying to make nice, Colonel, there's no need. I already told Zelenka he can move forward into the pilot test phase if his by-pass filter passes the simulation. Along with the rest of the circuits, of course. So whatever you're up to, take it elsewhere." 

John was pleasantly surprised but not quite enough to ignore the jab. "This poor, poor me act of yours is starting to get a little old. Especially since you're the one who screwed up."

Rodney jerked and almost dropped his fork. "Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying—why are you acting like I'm out to get you or something?"

Rodney frowned hard, his lower lip poking out worriedly. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he started, but suddenly John recognized the expression lurking behind the pout. 

"You feel guilty? So you're taking it out on Radek and me? That doesn't even make any sense."

"Who says I feel guilty?"

John raised his eyebrows.

"I already apologized," Rodney said stubbornly, the pout just growing more pronounced. "And you clearly don't trust my abilities if you've moved on to work with Radek on projects."

"And you're still not getting the point." John ground his teeth together. "You feel guilty, but you don't know why. Well, figure it out instead of acting like the rest of us are to blame. We're not out to get you, McKay. Not everything's about you."

John was still steaming with all the things he should have said when he met Radek in the superjumper ten minutes later. That was the only explanation for what happened, he told himself later, not that he was complaining. 

"I can't believe that guy," John said as he came in and closed the ramp behind him, then nearly tripped over the coil of cables tying the various laptops to the jumper's systems. "Fuck." 

Radek looked up and shot him an ironic look. "I assume you speak of Rodney, because I cannot count on my fingers how many times I have heard those words spoken in the labs." Radek pointed John toward the computer to his right. "Use this one, please."

John bent and scooped up the laptop before settling at an angle next to Radek on the deck. "Yeah, Rodney. Of course, Rodney. What a schmuck." 

"But he gave us the go-ahead to proceed with flight test when we finish..."

"Yeah, but only because he knew I'd go over his head to Elizabeth if he didn't."

Radek blinked at him over his glasses.

"I might've sent him an email," John admitted, "pointing out as Chief of Engineering the jumpers were your purview."

"And so he was angry?"

"Not about that. Or maybe—I don't know. He seems to think you—that I'm only working with you because I don't trust him, which—you know that's not why, right?"

Radek smiled, for once not ducking his head. "No. I know this isn't the case."

"No, it's really not. Not why I keep coming back." John felt his neck heat. He licked his lips uncertainly, afraid to say more.

Radek's eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open slightly. 

The silence had gone on way too long, but John didn't know how to break it. He had no deniability here. Radek had to know now it was his quick brain and his gentle humor and soft smiles and big blue eyes that had John coming back when he was supposed to be doing about a million other things. 

But if Radek wasn't into it, John had to let him know it was cool. "I—" John stopped. Radek's hand was touching his, calloused fingers sliding between his to clutch firmly. "Okay," John said, and Radek smiled, his full lower lip making the perfect target. John leaned in and just went for it.

 _Wow._ Who knew nerdy scientists were so good at kissing? Radek's mouth was warm and soft and his tongue didn't waste any time pushing into John's mouth. Radek grabbed the back of John's neck, holding him close, his fingers shoving up into John's hair and sending shivers down John's back.

John decided he had to represent for the home team, and he pulled back enough to nibble at Radek's full lower lip before thrusting his tongue into Radek's mouth. John curled his arm around Radek's waist as far as he could reach without losing his balance, supporting his weight on his other hand; he ran his palm up Radek's back to feel his wiry strength. 

"God," John murmured. Okay. Maybe imagining Radek naked wasn't the best idea at this point, because suddenly John was ragingly hard. He pulled away and closed his eyes for a second, his pulse pounding in his ears. "Sorry, I gotta cool down."

"Yes, I—" Radek choked out. 

When John opened his eyes, Radek was cleaning his glasses. 

John grinned so hard he thought his face would break. "So, yeah. I'm having fun working on the jumper."

Radek let out a shaky laugh. Funny, John couldn't remember hearing Radek really laugh before. He liked the sound of it. "Me too, John." He put his glasses back on and tapped his chin. "I thought perhaps the way your pants kept slipping was a sign, but I couldn't be quite sure. Data...data." 

John flushed harder. "I guess we should get back to it, huh?" he said with regret. "But maybe later...?"

"Later." Radek touched his hand, his thumb stroking John's wrist just below his wristband. "My bed is much more comfortable than the deck of the jumper." He sounded eager.

John swallowed. "Good. Good." His voice might've squeaked a little.

Radek's grin was pure evil.

:::

John got into the pilot's chair and they worked for shit the first hour or so, their concentration pretty shot, but eventually John managed to forget his hard-on and the man sitting on the floor below him and started to lose himself in the circuit diagrams once again. At one point, shuffling on to the next screen, John realized there wasn't one. He looked over to find Radek grinning up at him.

"That's it?"

"That is all." Radek lifted his fists in triumph. "And the hard simulation of the by-pass filter was a success. We are ready for the pilot test." He bit his lower lip, looking concerned.

"Hey, don't worry about it; that's my job. I'm good at it."

"It's not you I worry about."

"Yeah, but you took care of this part."

Radek still looked uncertain. "But before I trust this machine with you, maybe I should ask Rodney to look over the schematics more fully—not the circuits here," he said when John started to protest, "but the original schematics from the console. He will see if there is anything I missed."

John was pretty sure it had to be a heart attack or something—the sudden ache in his chest was so fierce. He leaned over and trapped the back of Radek's head to pull him in for a kiss, hard and hot and sweet, before letting him escape looking flustered and pleased.

"Yeah, okay," John said. "Sounds like a plan."

:::

John had a meeting with Lorne to go over requisitions, then a sparring match with Teyla that left him limp and damp and bruised like an overripe peach. 

She had mercy and dropped a towel and a bottle of water on him from above before settling gracefully to the mat beside him.

"We haven't spoken in a few days," she said slowly. "How are things?" There was a hesitant note to her voice that made John's ears prick up.

He shrugged against the mat. "Better I guess. You know how it is..." 

"Yes. I know," she said, her voice flat.

"People do things sometimes, but if we..." He petered out.

"Care about them?"

"Yeah, that. We figure out how to let it go. Just takes a while. Especially if they're..."

"Stubborn and difficult?"

John laughed. "Hey, your words."

"My words. And yours too, I expect." Teyla's laughter was warm and deep, and he laughed along with her, his aching ribs getting more of a work out.

With it, he felt the last of his anger float free.

:::

"He said what?" John crossed his arms and then winced and dropped them to his sides. 

"He said 'If the Colonel trusts your opinion so much, you don't need my help.' Then he stomped away like a buffalo."

"Back to the trust thing again." Rodney really wasn't getting it. John was tempted to go pound it into his skull with the help of something sharp and pointy. "All right—let me take care of it."

"John, wait." Radek reached out and touched his arm with just two fingers—just that, and John stopped, his brain flashing on images it really shouldn't, especially since it looked like their plans for the evening were already screwed. 

"Don't worry—I won't be violent," John said wryly. "Believe me, this isn't the first time I've been tempted."

"No, I don't doubt. But first, I think you must understand why Rodney cannot let go of his misapprehension."

"I think I know why—he feels guilty and doesn't want to think about it."

Radek shook his head. "No—well, perhaps in part. But also, Rodney is a scientist, and I think he cannot add up the factors. There is, yes, another thing that draws us together of which he is unaware? In astrophysical terms, we call this the invisible planet. Rodney thinks this invisible force is your lack of trust." Radek flushed suddenly.

John grinned. "When really it's just that I came to you for information and...decided to stick around for other things."

Radek pointed. "Yes, these other things Rodney doesn't know about. Invisible forces." Radek shrugged. "I think you need to tell him?"

John froze. 

"Do you trust him this far?"

That was the crux of the matter, wasn't it? John thought about the petty, vicious words on the recording and wasn't so sure. But then he weighed it against the guy who'd thrown his life on the line, saving John's ass, saving John's team and Atlantis, and he just couldn't square it. He didn't know who that guy was ripping Radek a new one. Maybe it was reckless and stupid, but John preferred to believe in his own version of Rodney McKay.

"Yeah. I guess I do," John said, and Radek nodded.

:::

"Hey, open up, I wanna talk," John said when Rodney yelled, "Go away," from inside his quarters. "Open up or I'll go get the crowbar."

The door whooshed open a moment later. "Crowbar? Do you have any idea what that would do to the delicate circuitry of these systems? And what makes you think I want to talk to the likes of you anyway?" Rodney said, turning away and plopping down on his desk chair.

John sauntered in and made himself comfortable on Rodney's bed. "I think we better, don't you? We can't keep—" John flailed wordlessly.

Rodney turned around, smirking. "Ha. Doing a terrific job already."

John clenched his jaw. "Look, we're team—"

"Yes, yes—so you keep saying. And yet as soon as there's the tiniest hiccough—"

John gaped.

Rodney winced and twisted his hands together nervously. "Well, not hiccough. More like a whooping cough, maybe."

"Scarlett fever," John said with a smirk.

"Bubonic plague." Now Rodney was smiling just a bit, his mouth on a sideways slant. "I know what I did wrong," he blurted suddenly. "It wasn't that I made a mistake in my calculations."

John blinked.

"The truth is, I couldn't even conceive of being wrong." Rodney turned sideways. "Really, I didn't want to consider it a remote possibility. I finagled you into believing in me and-and speaking up for me. Then, when doubts were raised, I steamrolled right over any objections and put your life at risk, and I _know_ —let the record show I realize how asinine my behavior was." Rodney rubbed his hand over his forehead. "I just was so blinded by this dream I had of coming up with the ultimate weapon to save us all. I know how exhausted Elizabeth is, how everyone on this base is, but most of all how tired you are of trying to protect us with inadequate resources, and I just thought—"

"Hey, hey." John got up and stopped Rodney right there, putting his hand on Rodney's shoulder and giving it a squeeze. Rodney let out a tired wheeze and hung his head. "It's okay. I get it. And thanks for figuring it out. It means a lot."

"It does? Really?" Rodney raised his head, eyes wide and hopeful. "Because really, I hate this. You have no idea how much. I can't stand the thought of you not trusting me—"

"It's not about that." John sat on the edge of Rodney's bed so he could stay close. Looking down between his feet, he took a deep breath. "Look, I told you already—I know you have this weird idea that me hanging out with Radek has been a secret plot or something—"

Rodney made a rude noise.

"But it's not. Believe it or not, it really has nothing to do with you. I went to get some information from him, and...shit." The back of John's neck prickled suddenly, and he rubbed at it. 

"What information?" Rodney said suspiciously, sounding ready to be hurt again.

"It doesn't matter." John waved his hand. "We got to talking, and I...figured out I like him." John raised his head. "You hear what I'm saying? I like him, Rodney."

But Rodney's face was twisting into sullen unhappiness again. He wasn't getting it.

"Rodney," John said sharply. "You're not hearing me. I'm...attracted to him, okay?"

Rodney's eyes went wide, his mouth dropping open. "You...Radek? Are you joking?" 

"No. I'm not." John's face felt hot.

"What? But that's—" Rodney frowned mightily as he took in the information, as if he had to reset a bunch of parameters or something. John waited—possibly for an explosion of anger, or he wasn't sure of what, but then Rodney said, "Well, that explains it," sounding relieved and appalled at the same time. Then his mouth twisted into the same expression it'd had when he'd tried the banana-like fruit on P9Z-781 that turned out to taste like spinach and molasses. 

"The point is," John said quickly, trying to forestall a commentary. "I'm trusting you with this. You get how much?" John really hoped he did, because this was his career in the crapper if Rodney didn't.

Rodney blinked and then he smiled suddenly. "Yes. Of course I do." He frowned an instant later. "But you could have told me, you know. Oh, my God," he said, gathering steam, "You didn't tell me! Why didn't you tell me?" 

"There was nothing to tell," John said. "I haven't been involved with a guy since before I met you."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Don't be specious."

"And don't be nosey." 

"I suppose that's fair. It's not like you tell anyone anything." Then Rodney smiled again, a smug grin. "So, I'm the only one that knows? You haven't told Teyla?"

"Nope."

"Or Ronon?"

"Nope." John shook his head. "I probably will though, so they know to let him know if, you know, anything happens."

"Right, right." Rodney bit his lip.

"So, you understand now? It wasn't about you."

"Of course. You were just being a damned flirt. As usual."

"Oh, for Pete's sake."

Rodney clapped his hands together. "Well, I guess this means I have a job to do. Radek did ask _me_ to go over the superjumper schematics."

"Yes, he did."

"So, please get out."

John got.

:::

The pilot test was set for the next day. John was cranky because Rodney dragged Radek off to go over the schematics, which meant he didn't get the promised sex, just a few hard and hot kisses in Radek's office.

Radek goosed him on the way out the door, though, and gave John a smirk when he jumped.

:::

Ten minutes to launch, floating just within Lantea's atmo, John contemplated the stars above him in through the haze of the thermosphere and nudged the jumper just a bit further until he was clear. 

He pulled up the screens for the pods and the inertial dampeners on the HUD. All systems were green.

"Flight Control, this is Jumper X. I'm showing green for turbopods and hyperdampeners. Waiting for go on drive test. Sheppard out."

_"Copy that, Jumper X."_

John settled back in his seat to wait. His palm was slightly damp, and he wiped it on his BDU pants. This was the first time in a long time he'd been so closely involved in a project, where he'd actually taken part in the planning and execution phase. 

And now he'd get to test it himself. It was pretty damned exciting. He only wished Radek could be here. That was stupid, though. No, better to have a good, clean test and then take Radek up once they were sure it was safe.

 _"Jumper X, you're go for launch."_

"Copy that, Flight Control." This was it. They weren't testing the megashield in this go-round, just the turbopods and hyperdampeners, so John had plotted his trajectory with Radek, making sure he had a clean shot, based on the power of the turbopods, to the end of a timed thirty-second burst. No space debris or asteroids in his path.

John set his hand on the control yoke. "Flight, this is Jumper X. Ignition in five-four-three—"

 _"Sheppard, wait!_ "

It was Rodney. John hesitated for a fraction of a second, tempted to just go for it anyway. He had the go, damn it. 

But this was _Rodney_. Sounding frantic.

John lifted his hand from the yoke with a sigh, expecting—he wasn't sure what, exactly. But in that one heartbeat he couldn't help but wonder if Rodney was about to do a little grandstanding and cheat them out of their test.

"What's up, Rodney?" 

_"I was going over the schematics one last time."_ Rodney sounded breathless. _"And I failed to take something into account."_

It was the 'I' that did it. Somehow, John didn't think a week ago Rodney would have said 'I.' 

"What's that?" John said, just as Radek asked something similar over the channel.

_"The turbopods were never meant to be burned in or near atmosphere. If you're too close to the thermosphere, you could risk igniting the oxygen and nitrogen gases—and if you don't have the shield deployed..."_

"Kaboom," John said, suddenly feeling sick, his heart pounding from the near miss.

_"Exactly."_

_"Bože"_.

Rodney had probably just stopped him from turning into a giant fireball. 

"Thanks, buddy," John said. "That really would have ruined lunch." John disengaged the turbopods and went to regular mode. "How far out is safe distance, do you think?"

_"I'd say a couple of kilometers from your present location. Get out there and Radek and I will re-plot your course."_

That was what they did. Twenty minutes later, Flight was giving him the go once again, and John put his hand on the stick. He heard Radek murmur "Hodně štěstí," for luck, which reminded John to tap his left-hand pocket where his lucky coin sat.

And then John counted down and, with a thought, engaged the turbopods.

 _Hooooo-eeee_. Despite the hyperdampeners, he was thrust back into his seat. It felt like he was pulling at least ten Gs, and it made him glad he'd had the forethought to wear his G-suit for the test. God, he'd missed this—the actually sense of speed while flying—and it was all he could do not to whoop out loud from the rush as the stars blurred before his watering eyes.

Of course, he was having a little trouble breathing, but the jumper was a trooper and kicked in with a fresh flood of oxygen from the vents.

After the thirty-second burn, the timer on his watch beeped and he cut the turbo then pulled up the HUD to mark his location. After blinking a couple of times and running the calculations, he realized he'd just gone three million, six hundred thousand miles per hour.

John whooped.

_Eat that, Guinness._

:::

"Of course, in hyperspace we travel many times the speed of light," Rodney said grumpily over the wreckage of the after-party in the mess.

John was too buzzed to give a damn. 

"Not to mention wormhole travel," Rodney added a moment later, still trying to harsh his mellow.

John pointed his grin in Radek's direction. Radek apparently felt the same, because his smile was practically wrapped around his head. Of course, that could have been the Pražská vodka Zelenka had smuggled in with the last _Daedalus_ shipment. 

"Did I say thanks for saving my life?" John said, trying to knock Rodney off his downer slide.

Rodney blinked and then smiled slightly. "I—yes, you did, but really, can you ever thank me enough?"

John pushed his untouched cake Rodney's way.

"That'll do nicely," Rodney said, and dug in.

"I'm pretty wiped," John said a few minutes later, giving an exaggerated yawn. All the other revelers, Caldwell and Dr. Weir included, had already had their cake and taken off. John had seen Ronon earlier sitting next to Teyla with a bruise on his cheek and a grin on his face, and they'd come over to give their congratulations before leaving the three of them to crow their triumph at each other. 

Radek took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes as well, doing a much more convincing job.

Rodney just snorted. "Oh, please spare me. Just..." He trailed off seeming to switch tacks, giving them a serious look. 

John sincerely hoped this wasn't the beginning of a "You hurt my friend and I'll nuke you from orbit," talk, because John had no doubt Rodney could do it. 

"I know you're both all full of...the hormone phase."

John winced. Radek hastily reached for his shot glass.

"I know, I know—" Rodney waved his hands. "Just don't...forget about me?" he said plaintively.

"Don't worry, buddy." John rose and clapped him on the shoulder. "You're pretty unforgettable."

"It's true," Radek said gravely, giving him a pat as well. 

Rodney considered it, nodded, and went back to his cake.

John noticed Radek grabbing the bottle before they made a run for it.

:::

"This suit is very—provocative," Radek said, pulling down the zipper way, _way_ too slowly for John's taste. "How it goes all the way down? And the way these pieces strap around your legs—" Crap, Radek was having way too much fun getting him out of his G-suit. And tangling him up in it at the same time. John's zipper was open all the way down to the bottom of his crotch, and Radek was nibbling his way over John's chest and ribs, his hands tugging at the zippers on his thighs.

"And truthfully, I do not understand why, but this back panel does strangely complement your rear-end, John. Perhaps because it accentuates the curve of your waist. However, does it not increase blood flow to certain areas?" Radek squeezed his ass with both hands for emphasis, and John made an involuntary sound that had Radek grinning toothily.

"Enough," John said, and started unzipping and unbuckling while Radek laughed at him soundlessly. Oh, he'd better just wait until John got his hands on him.

Maybe Radek saw something in his expression, because he started undressing himself, the fink, not giving John an opportunity to tease him with it. By the time John's G-suit was in pieces on the floor, Radek had already shed his uniform and socks and shoes, and was wearing nothing but boxers and a grin.

It was a good look on him. Radek was rangy and muscled like a runner, with slim hips and well-defined thighs. John suddenly remembered Radek was in the Atlantis Running Club that met in the evenings; John never jogged with them, seeing as Ronon always dragged him out in the mornings. Maybe it was time to start.

The boxers were a nice touch, purple and white striped. John advanced on him and Radek put up his hands, sliding them carefully around John's bruised ribs.

"Tsk. Are these bruises from the test?"

"From Teyla's sticks. These are from the test," John said, touching the welts on his upper chest and thighs. "They'll be gone by tomorrow." 

Radek frowned anyway. "You lead a troubling life." 

"I like my life." John leaned in and kissed him until the frown went away. "I like it...even more...these days."

Radek's smile went brilliant. "Well, as you Americans say: you ain't seen nothing yet." He gave John a gentle shove toward the bed, and John went willingly, falling onto it and then squirming backward until his head was on the pillow. He reached up and Radek was there kneeling over him, his hair flying all over the place. John pushed it back so he could see Radek's bright blue eyes, the crinkles in the corners, and the deep slashes of the dimples in his cheeks.

"God, you're...something else," John said haltingly. "I mean it."

Radek shook his head and muttered something in Czech then bent to kiss him, long and slow and lush, until John's cock ached with want. He grabbed Radek's hips and grinded up against him, feeling the hot pressure of Radek's cock beneath the thin material of his boxers. It had been so very long since John had gotten in touch with another guy's cock, and he shoved at the waistband impatiently until Radek chuckled against his lips and knelt up to remove them.

"So impatient, miláčku. I have waited a long time for this, and now it is your turn to wait." He drew his thumb along John's gaping lower lip, then bent and scraped his teeth along John's neck.

Radek sat back and cocked his head. "You give me license, yes?"

"Waiting, yeah—I'll wait," John gasped, his mind suddenly spinning. How long had Radek been waiting, and why? For him? He really, never, seriously saw this coming, because he'd had no idea. If he had, he would have paid more attention. 

He was such an idiot sometimes.

Like right now, because whatever Radek was doing to his left nipple really bore paying attention to. "Christ," John said, arching his back.

"Making note," Radek said, a chuckle in his voice, and his hands moved delicately over John's body as if he'd found his new favorite toy, his latest prize, the experiment of all experiments as he ran one simulation after another—

"This, I think, yes?" Radek said, gripping gently while John moaned, rubbing there until John whimpered, and then lifting and shifting and—"Maybe not yet," when John blew out a grunt, his ribs protesting. 

John reached for Radek in turn, finding his sinewy forearm, wrapping his hand around Radek's trim waist and running his fingers down to his firm butt and squeezing just to hear him sigh. 

Radek had him turn over, raising an eyebrow when John was a little surprised. "Hey, I didn't say I wasn't game," John said, stuffing a pillow strategically to give his ribs a break, and Radek patted his ass, saying, "Would be a shame to waste such a fine sample."

"Gee, thanks." John lowered his head between his folded arms.

Radek seemed to take his sweet time getting him prepped, his fingers sliding long and deep, the pad of his thumb resting just behind John's balls like an anchor, because every time John squirmed, Radek's thumb would press in like a warning. It was embarrassing how hot John found that, or how desperate he got for Radek to just get on with it and fuck him already. Too long. It had been too long since he'd felt like this.

"Think I'm ready," John said after a while, even though he'd said this was Radek's play.

"Hmm?" Radek said, his voice a little dreamy.

"I said, you can, you know, get started."

"Oh, I have already started," Radek said, and his other hand rested on the small of John's back, holding him down, while he kept working his fingers in and out and inside John's ass. And, all right—John really hadn't anticipated what he was getting into with Radek Zelenka, not at all, because the man was purely diabolical. 

"God, Radek, Radek, Radek."

Radek laughed low in his throat and leaned close to kiss John's shoulder and nuzzle the back of his neck. Then he did something fucked up with his fingers and this rolling pressure involving his knuckles until John hitched his hips up and smashed his mouth into the mattress so he wouldn't be heard begging for Radek to _fuck my ass already, Damn it_ , as far away as the _Daedalus_.

"Good data points," Radek said, and withdrew to kneel between John's legs. And then, finally, John felt the sweet, sweet stretch of Radek's cock sliding in, and he could relax and just groan into the hot space between his forearms while Radek gave it to him—man, who'd've thought the squirrely little Czech would have such a good, strong rhythm to his hips. Every time he shoved in, John grunted a little in gratitude at the hot little grind Radek gave at the end of his stroke.

"Jesus, Radek," John said when he could gather enough breath. He reached down for his cock, giving himself a few good strokes, and then Radek leaned over him and bit down gently on John's shoulder blade, and that was all she wrote.

John came.

And came, and came, moaning into the mattress, conscious of Radek's dry, warm hand on his hip, gentling him through it. Eventually, he was aware that Radek was murmuring that same word in Czech, "Miláčku. Jsi krásný, miláčku." John didn't know what it meant, but the tone made him reach back to clasp Radek's hand. Radek let out a sound and thrust into him hard, making John's balls twitch, and then Radek froze with a soft groan.

"Ahh. John." Radek leaned over and kissed the back of his neck before withdrawing to get rid of the condom. John closed his eyes, totally wiped, but when he managed to feebly lift his head, he glared at Radek, who was, the motherfucker, cleaning his glasses.

Radek grinned smugly. 

"Get over here," John said, grabbing him and kissing him. He traced the curve of Radek's brow and the crease of his dimple with his thumb, and said, "Okay. Apparently, this shy, retiring scientist thing is just a front. You really know your stuff." 

Radek popped his glasses back on, looking innocent. "Oh, well. I think you know how useful it is to be underestimated. But you enjoyed it, yes?" He looked so hopeful. "There will be time in the future for you to 'show your stuff.'"

John swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, of course. But why—you should have said something, you know. Given me a hint. I mean, how long have you—?"

"Yes, but not time for talking, I think," Radek said, and shoved John onto his back. "After sex, we sleep."

Good to know Radek wasn't the talky kind, either. John grinned and let himself be manhandled to Radek's satisfaction. Soon, Radek was on his side next to him using John's arm for a pillow, Radek's fingers tucked under John's waist.

John plucked Radek's glasses away and dropped them on the side table, then palmed his crazy hair back from his forehead so he could kiss him there. Radek smiled, his eyes big and blue and unfocused.

"'Night," John said.

"Dobrou noc."

:::

John beat Rodney to the breakfast line the next morning, which meant he was the one sporting the double-tall thermos mug of coffee for once. Rodney was seriously displeased about that, at least until John produced the real, honest-to-God Egg McMuffin he'd had Cooky construct for him out of an English muffin, a real egg, a slice of American cheese, and a piece of fried Canadian bacon.

Rodney boggled at it for a full ten seconds before he grabbed it and started chowing down. 

John was glad he'd thought to take a picture first.

"Thanks," Rodney said after he'd finished, one wayward crumb still stuck to his lower lip. "So, how are...things?" The upward lilt at the end was accompanied by a slight wince, which John translated as, "Any info is too much info, really." 

"Just fine," John said, leaving it at that, but maybe the sappy grin on his face was enough, because Rodney gave him an odd look, partly happy, partly dismayed, as if he wasn't sure how he really felt about the whole thing.

Well, he'd have to get used to it, John figured.

"So. We have lab time scheduled today, right?" John asked. 

"Right! Right," Rodney said, looking happier right away.

Rodney led the way down to Lab 2, his refill in one hand while he gestured with the other, describing the new artifact Dr. Guzman had discovered—"Completely by accident, I'm sure."—while investigating the lower levels with AR-8.

"It's possibly some kind of weapon," Rodney said, "but don't get your hopes up, Captain Trigger Happy." 

John was a lot less inclined to get happy over Ancient weapons these days, but he kept his mouth shut on the subject. Fortunately, Rodney didn't notice, just pointed at the thing, which admittedly looked like some kind of gun—it had a grip and a flared base, then rounded out to long, snubbed nose, kind of like the ray guns from those old black-and-white alien invader movies. 

"So," Rodney said nervously, rubbing his hands together. "I had a non-ATA hook it up to the tablet, but obviously we're all a little gun-shy here—no pun intended—"

"I'll be thinking 'off,' don't worry."

John wasn't sure why Rodney never relied on his own gene when it came to stuff like this—it was every bit as reliable as his own. But for some reason when it came to the really iffy tech, he liked to do the monitoring and have John do the touchy-feely. That was all right with John—he preferred to be on the front lines, no matter what the context was.

He walked over to the table and laid his fingers on the grip, then settled it in his hand in the correct position, more certain as he felt the tingle of communication from the device.

"It's not a weapon," John said, and he heard Rodney sigh with what sounded like relief. "It's a sonar device for reading the ocean floor. I think they must have SCUBA gear or some equivalent, because check it out—" John pointed the device at one of the bubble columns and activated it. A HUD popped up with a bunch of useless information in Ancient. 

Rodney made a disgusted sound. "Well, it's not like we don't have sonar." 

"Still, it could be pretty cool; you should send it back to the SGC for the nerds to play with."

"All right, I suppose."

"Got anything else?" John looked around. "We have a couple of hours before the megashield test." John was still a little bummed he wouldn't get to be in the superjumper for that, but Radek, Rodney, and Weir had all ganged up on him—the superjumper would be released pilot-less, megashield enabled, from the _Daedalus'_ F-302 bay, to be hammered on by the _Daedalus'_ railguns for a discrete period to see how effectual the shield was. Then the _Daedalus_ would scoop her back up and they'd use the remote to get back in and see how she'd fared. 

That is, if the _Daedalus_ didn't cream her.

Rodney hadn't responded to John's question, and John turned to find him jittering nervously at his keyboard, the specs to the megashield up on his monitor.

"Are you worried about the test?" 

"No, no. Not really," Rodney said. "You and Radek did an okay job—well, fine, really—terrific, even, not that I couldn't have done better myself, given access."

John rolled his eyes. 

"But there's only one of me, of course," Rodney conceded.

"Actually, there are probably multitudes of you in infinite universes, but I try not to think about that or I get insomnia."

"Ha, oh, so very ha, Colonel." Rodney was still twitching.

"Rodney," John said slowly. "Are you getting weird on me? Is this about me and Radek?"

"What? No! Of course not. I mean, not you and Radek, per se. I'm perfectly happy for you both," he said unhappily.

"Uh-huh." John crossed his arms.

"It's just...this whole time, seeing as you are bisexual—" And, God, Rodney pronounced all four syllables so deliberately, bi-sek-shu-al. "—I mean why Radek, for God's sake? Oh, yes, of course, I've heard all the rumors about him. More than meets the eye, apparently." Rodney snorted.

 _Rumors?_ John mouthed.

Rodney blurted, looking away, "But, really, have you ever developed an embarrassing but utterly inappropriate attraction for any of your close but, um, totally straight co-workers?" 

Oh, John should have seen this one coming for sure. Fortunately, his ready answer was nothing but the truth. 

"Nope. But then I've never been attracted to my annoying little brother, either." 

"Hey!" Rodney said, probably balking at "pesky," but then once again the data went click-click behind Rodney's busy eyes, and he suddenly glowed happily. "Your incredibly attractive, dashing younger brother? Wait-wait just a minute—you have a brother?"

"Oh, I have five at least," John said airily. "Jimmy, Timmy, Freddy, Tommy, and Leopold. Leopold's the baby—everyone hates the little snot," John confided. 

Rodney made a disgusted sound. "I should've known," he said, and John smirked.

"Come on, let's get out of here and go play The Game," John said. "It's been a rough week." He grabbed Rodney's arm and tugged him out the door. 

"But seriously—I'm pretty hot, aren't I?" Rodney said.

"Who's been lying to you?" John said, and whacked him on the back of the head.

:::

The jumper passed the megashield test without a hitch.

Back in Radek's quarters, John held out his glass for another shot. Man, those Czechs sure knew how to make vodka. Although Radek claimed a Swedish company had bought the place and taken over production. 

"To the Super Jumper," John said, lifting his shot glass. 

Radek clinked their glasses together, a wry smile on his face. "Stupid name."

"I'll give you that," John said, pointing. "But imagine if they were still called gate ships like Rodney wanted."

Radek gave an exaggerated shiver.

"There you go." John nodded sagely. It was possible he'd had a few too many of these teeny little glasses, or maybe this Pražská stuff was tougher than it looked. Deceptive how it was all clear-like. "You trying to get me drunk? Have your way with me?"

"I would have my way anyway," Radek said. Smart guy.

"Chess!" John said suddenly, turning while managing not to slosh his drink—no mean feat. "The board is in here somewhere. I saw it. I will make you—" He burped suddenly and his throat burned. "—win my way with me."

Radek was grinning at him. The fucker.

"What? You think I'm easy?" John balanced the board on one hand and didn't spill a single piece. His drink, on the other hand, was toast. Ha. Toast. They'd already had the toast.

He licked the vodka off the back of his wrist and looked up to see Radek's eyes glazing over. "What?"

"Nothing, John." Radek licked his lower lip. "You were saying?"

"Chess. Right?"

"And so I will win your affections."

John smiled suddenly, ducking his head. Some of the pieces were out of true, and he straightened them carefully. 

Radek's hand patted his knee. "Or perhaps there is no need." 

"No no no." John swiped his hand away. "Have to win my way."

"But in that you really have no need."

John looked up and saw Radek's blue eyes, wide and shining deep, a sweet smile on his lips.

John had to duck his head again. "That's okay. I'd rather, you know—it's not fair if I don't."

"I don't know why you would think so, but I will play if you wish."

"Black or white?"

"Black."

"All right." John moved his Queen's pawn up two squares and waited. "It's just...you made it too easy, Radek. I know you don't want to talk about it, and I get that—whoo, do I get that—but you have to know it's hard for a guy like me to figure I deserve it."

He saw Radek shake his head and then move his King's knight. A foggy thought stirred at the back of John's head, but he was distracted when Radek said, "You have deserved it all along—you just didn't notice."

"That's—you're talking crazy. I just wish you'd told me what I wasn't noticing—" Definitely too much vodka. The knight was looking too threatening, so John cleared the way for his Queen with his Bishop's pawn, pushing it up two squares.

"Sometimes it's easier not to be noticed. To be the invisible influence." Radek responded by pushing out his Queen's pawn, and something clicked in John's head when he saw the board's configuration. He looked up and saw the slight grin on Radek's face, and then he was sure.

"The Budapest Gambit. You're totally throwing the game, you-you sneak."

"No, no—it is not purely a losing strategy—"

John pushed the board aside and pounced on Radek, who was laughing now, practically giggling. John kissed his smiling mouth until he grew serious and kissed him back.

"I notice you," John said. "I notice the hell out of you."

"Yes. Yes," Radek said, his smile fond. "I am so very glad, John."

John was, too.

 

_End._

**Author's Note:**

> Czech translations, many thanks to [carodajka](http://archiveofourown.org/users/carodajka) for the lovely language corrections:
> 
> Ne, ne. Nesmysl.. - "No, no. Nonsense."  
> Nevěřím tomu - "I don't believe it!"  
> Prosím - "Please."  
> To je - "It is."  
> Úžasné - "Amazing."  
> Zatraceně - "Damn it."  
> Bože - "Dear God."   
> Hodně štěstí - "Good luck."  
> Miláčku - "Sweetheart."  
> Jsi krásný - "You're beautiful."  
> Dobrou noc - "Good night." 
> 
> Latin translations:  
> Vestri penitus est in erroris - "Your request is in error"  
> Vegrandis Traba Lenimentus Exertus - "Small Ship Improvement Project" 
> 
> [Rodney's Laboratory Beaker Mug](http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/mugs/96c6/) from ThinkGeek. 
> 
> [More on invisible planet technique](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44442011/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/invisible-planet-discovered-new-technique/).


End file.
